Collateral damage equals profit. www.pahrumplife.org writes:

Historical/Satirical Truth

Well folks, Thomson Illinois Gitmo Wannabe looks like the tip of the iceberg called “America the Taxpayer-Funded, Private Dungeon Slave Capital of the World.” Many in the corporate world would greedily and wantonly like to see the United States become pervasively a world of prisons, court cases, half-way houses, HUD houses, prison supply warehouses (Wal-Mart?), cheap or free labor, prison developers, prison trained-warriors etc. And this is America.

Let’s see. Who can we round up for $100 per diem per prison bed? Where can we start the next war? Hmm where are there still tribes of happy people living as they were made to live off the land and content with their cultures close to the Great Mystery, having little or no crime, gorgeous land and sea, indigenous food delights, athletics, diversions, music, art, cherished livelihoods, love and each other? What lands and people are ripe for the picking? How can we get them angry? Maybe we could dump oil sludge in their water, or poison their water, slash and burn their sacred and bountiful lands. When they are most pliable, after getting them dependent on drugs and thereby limited in living up to their ancient ways because they are now addicts living for a fix, we could steal their children and point fingers at their neighbor tribes. One vengeful raid could follow another and become a way of life for years. Sometimes it takes time to profitably fulfill a plan. We could sell to them - or trade for land and other favors - weapons from years ago (automatic weapons for bows and arrows) and after they’ve almost wiped each other out we could find a reason in our bag of reasons to hit them with our state of the art weapons killing many but leaving some to face war criminal charges. Where can we send front people with whiskey and drugs to ply our future enemy combatant warlords and devastated and vindictive masses because of kidnappings of babies, wives and mothers, slayings, massacres, human slavery - sex and otherwise? And what are the most conducive and best growing drugs for their regions? We could trade favors and land for drugs and grow and harvest and make them locally to get more bang for our buck and save having to cross borders. We could even make the drugs illegal in order to gather more prisoners. You know like all of this happened to the Native Americans and now in the Amazon Jungle and throughout the Middle East and Africa and Indonesia and Asia? There are many more places with resources for advancing, even if unwanted, industries in the world, but maybe we can save those places for later.

And we could put all of the war criminals here in America where we can certainly use the labor force and we wouldn’t have to pay those shipping charges from the sweat shops overseas. And if we don’t give these war criminal prisoners any rights we can keep them maybe forever. And we can still do it as private corporations on the taxpayers. It’s a win win win win situation at least for a few of us in America.

Rhetorically, why do some cheer on the situation? Why do some put up with it without a mumblin’ word? Is the above really what you want to happen and to continue to happen? I didn’t think so. Now is the time, if ever, to get active in your government’s ongoing business, or else it will, in all probability, continue developing as is.

How do we stop the oil wars?

Innovate until oil is obsolete.

Everyday I have tears in my eyes for our massmurders and war crimes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrpqnZYAB6w

Stranger and stranger..a while ago, I posted on the live blog, I was the only one there. Now I return, mine is gone, and 2 are here. Did I post on tomorrows live blog? Guess I'll have to wait to find out.

Mark K: Yesterday there was the release of a video that appeared to show the deliberate targeting of Iraqi civilians (including children) by Apache helicopters in a 2007 incident. Employees for Reuters were among the casualties. Although this was not technically a “friendly fire” incident—the crews believed that the Iraqi men killed were the insurgents who had fired on troops earlier—it is interesting to note that the military has always been accused of grossly under-reporting “friendly fire” deaths not just of civilians, but more notoriously American and allied military. Estimates of friendly fire casualties during World War II vary wildly, from 2 to 21 percent; the high number would suggest over 80,000 American deaths from friendly fire, although the Pentagon itself puts the number at 21,000—still a rather high number. It is estimated that 8,000 died from friendly fire during the Vietnam War. When the field of battle turns red, a kind of madness appears to prevail during which the rules of engagement seems to take second place to ending the ability of a real—or imagined—enemy from taking your life.

I miss Bush because I am a political idiot that welcomes the greatest divide between the rich and the poor; not to mention the total decimation of the Middle Class. I would like to cite this blog http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/why-i-miss-george-w-bush-1085. It is an example of why we need Americans to have some knowledge of political history to avoid such poor reflection of who I consider to be the worst President in American History. I am talking in terms of economics, world standing, Constitutional degradation, criminal behavior, and torture.

I agree wholly with Penny above me, I also would like to add that it is against the law to smear someones reputation with lies & misinfo it's called slander,very easy I would think to extend this for these reasons of hate spread through misinfo and downright lies from Republican party,last during elections honesty is needed most for the US citizen to make a proper guess as to who is best to serve US yet GOP continuously lie to get votes,Misrepresentation or scamming the public to gain office should be illegal NOT just playing politics,I am so proud of the Dems for usually taking the "high" road and being better people but this hate is spreading to quickly and growing for NO GOOD REASON other than the GOP are sore losers and dont play well with others.GOP using fear as political tool needs to stop.

The notion that for-profit health insurance represents the eternal order of things is specious. At one time, the largest health insurer in Kentucky and several other states was Blue Cross & Blue Shield. Kentucky Blue Cross was established in 1938 as a non-profit hospital services organization and initially funded by $1,500 donations by six non-profit hospitals and a $3,000 loan from the Louisville Community Chest. From that time until 1993, Blue Cross & Blue Shield was an extremely successful enterprise and contributed significantly to the well-being of Kentuckians.

In 1993, the officers of Kentucky Blue Cross & Blue Shield and Anthem of Indiana, a for-profit company, submitted a merger request to the Kentucky Insurance Commissioner, who approved it. This, in effect, converted charitable assets to for-profit assets, thereby shafting millions of Kentuckians who had supported Blue Cross & Blue Shield over the decades and policyholders who by law had an equity interest in the assets of Blue Cross & Blue Shield.

Kentucky’s Attorney General later filed suit to recover the converted charitable assets of Blue Cross & Blue Shield and in 1999, the court created a $45 million dollar charitable trust and directed Anthem to fund it immediately. Forty-five million dollars seems like quite a bit of money until we realize that Wellpoint, which owns Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield, paid their CEO a total of S42.8 million in 2006, 2007, and 2008 and has by now spent another $13.1 million on her, which means she got more than Kentucky.

The people who founded the “Blues” did not envision organizations whose sole reason for existence was profit for shareholders. Those “socialists” just wanted hospitals to remain solvent and patients to get care. A system focused solely on those two goals would surely “bend the cost curve.”

Boxer: Legalizing pot could increase crime, car accidents

By John Byrne
Monday, April 5th, 2010 -- 8:08 am

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0405/boxer-legalizing-pot-increase-crime-car-accidents/

Legalizing a criminal offense is going to increase crime?

Myth: Marijuana Causes Crime. Marijuana users commit more property offenses than nonusers. Under the influence of marijuana, people become irrational, aggressive, and violent.

Fact: Every serious scholar and government commission examining the relationship between marijuana use and crime has reached the same conclusion: marijuana does not cause crime. The vast majority of marijuana users do not commit crimes other than the crime of possessing marijuana. Among marijuana users who do commit crimes, marijuana plays no causal role. Almost all human and animal studies show that marijuana decreases rather than increases aggression.

• Fagan, J., et al. “Delinquency and Substance Use Among Inner-City Students.” Journal of Drug Issues 20 (1990): 351-402.

• Johnson, L.D., et al. “Drugs and Delinquency: A Search for Causal Connections.” Ed. D.B. Kandel. Longitudinal Research on Drug Use: Empirical Findings and Methodological Issues. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1978. 137-156.

• Goode, E. “Marijuana and Crime.” Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding, Appendix I. National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972. 447-453.

• Abram, K.M. and L.A. Teplin. “Drug Disorder, Mental Illness, and Violence.” Drugs and Violence: Causes, Correlates, and Consequences. Rockville: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1990. 222-238.

• Cherek, D.R., et al. “Acute Effects of Marijuana Smoking on Aggressive, Escape and Point-Maintained Responding of Male Drug Users.” Psychopharmacology 111 (1993): 163-168.

• Tinklenberg, J.R., et al. “Drugs and criminal assaults by adolescents: A Replication Study.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 13 (1981): 277-287.

The old car accidents canard?

Myth: Marijuana Use is a Major Cause Of Highway Accidents. Like alcohol, marijuana impairs psychomotor function and decreases driving ability. If marijuana use increases, an increase in of traffic fatalities is inevitable.

Fact: There is no compelling evidence that marijuana contributes substantially to traffic accidents and fatalities. At some doses, marijuana affects perception and psychomotor performances- changes which could impair driving ability. However, in driving studies, marijuana produces little or no car-handling impairment- consistently less than produced by low moderate doses of alcohol and many legal medications. In contrast to alcohol, which tends to increase risky driving practices, marijuana tends to make subjects more cautious. Surveys of fatally injured drivers show that when THC is detected in the blood, alcohol is almost always detected as well. For some individuals, marijuana may play a role in bad driving. The overall rate of highway accidents appears not to be significantly affected by marijuana's widespread use in society.

• Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. “Legalization: Panacea or Pandora’s Box”. New York. (1995):36.

• Swan, Neil. “A Look at Marijuana’s Harmful Effects.” NIDA Notes. 9.2 (1994): 14.

• Moskowitz, Herbert and Robert Petersen. Marijuana and Driving: A Review. Rockville: American Council for Drug Education, 1982. 7.

• Mann, Peggy. Marijuana Alert. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985. 265.

This is a so-called "liberal stalwart"? Hell, she's even Jewish...

"You know, it's a funny thing, every one of the bastards
that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish" Richard Nixon

If President Obama wants to energize HIS base, prior to the mid-term congressional elections, he needs to dis-associate himself from certain of his cabinet members -

1) Rahm Emmanuel

2) Tim Geithner

3) Ben Bernanke

He should forget about all the bi-partisan crap, about trying to "win over" the haters, and concentrate on "Winning BACK" those Americans who see him as having sold the left downriver over the past 2 years. Dropping Rahm and the Goldman boys would be an excellent first step down that road.

the toothbrush, that is... (hitting reply does not reply to specific post)